Mid-Michigan schools have plans, precautions in place for dangerous situations

By Matthew Witkos &nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Fri 6:58 PM, Nov 17, 2017

BURTON (WJRT) (11/17/2017) - When a gunman opened fire at a Northern California school, the building went into lockdown. The local sheriff credited that with saving lives.

Schools in Genesee County have similar action plans in case a similar situation was to happen.

After two people were shot in Ortonville on Tuesday evening, Bentley High School Principal Justin Dickerson started to take necessary safety precautions for his students the following day.

"So we were being very vigilant on that day just because we put students first and we wanted to make sure if anything came our way then we were prepared to handle it,” Dickerson said.

In case the shooter came north into the Flint area, Dickerson had a picture of the suspect and so did his staff. Several cameras in the schools kept a watchful eye out for the suspect.

While staff at the Northern California school had to individually lock the doors, Bentley High School already has its doors locked all day. A system allows all doors to be locked or unlocked with the push of a button at a central location.

"When we go into lockdown we automatically make the calls and we put it out on social media so the parents know what's going down. There is a lot of anxiety around a lockdown and people want to know,” Dickerson said.

He said they'll go through lockdown training at least six times a year.

They’ll bring an expert to score them on how well they handled the drill and suggest any possible improvements.

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